Natural resource management and ecological sustainability: Dynamic role of social disparity and human development in G10 Economies

A well-known phenomenon reflects that society's growing economic and social development has created various ecological issues. Therefore, this research examines the effect of natural resources, social disparity, human development, and institutional quality on the trade-adjusted material footprints in G10 economies from 1990 to 2018. Contemplating the significance of cross-sectional dependence, non-existence of slope homogeneity, stationarity characteristics, and panel cointegration between the variables, the long-run and short-run relationships have been tested through “cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lags” (CS-ARDL) model. The empirical results signify a productive environmental impact (i.e., low material footprints) via human capital development and institutional quality both in the long and short run. In contrast, natural resources, social disparity (via income inequality), and urbanization are causing higher material footprints, impeding environmental sustainability. Based on the stated results, it is suggested that human development and institutional quality are imperative for effective natural resources management and ensuring ecological sustainability. •Drivers of trade-adjusted Material Footprints (MF) are discussed in G10 Countries.•Human capital and institutional quality lead to lower MF.•Natural Resources Rent and Social disparity impede ecological sustainability.•Urbanization caused higher MF.